Title IV Refund
& Return Policy
Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Withdraws
The law specifies how Blue Mountain College must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are:
- Federal Pell Grants
- Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants
- TEACH Grants
- Direct Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs)
If you withdraw during your payment period or period of enrollment (BMC can define these for you and tell you which one applies to you), the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or BMC or your parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by BMC and/ or you.
The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your payment period or period of enrollment, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.
If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If your post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, BMC must get your permission before it can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don’t incur additional debt. BMC may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as contracted with the school). BMC needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges. If you do not give your permission (some schools ask for this when you enroll), you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow the school to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.
There are some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not receive any Direct Loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.
If you receive (or BMC or your parent receive on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, BMC must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:
- your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
- the entire amount of excess funds.
Blue Mountain College must return this amount even if it didn’t keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. If your school is not required to return all of the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount.
Any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a Direct PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an over-payment. The maximum amount of a grant over-payment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. You do not have to repay a grant over-payment if the original amount of the over-payment is $50 or less. You must make arrangements with BMC or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.
The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from any refund policy that BMC may have. Therefore, you may still owe funds to BMC to cover unpaid institutional charges. BMC may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return. If you don’t already know your school’s refund policy, you can refer to the current Blue Mountain College Undergraduate Catalog. BMC can also provide you with the requirements and procedures for officially withdrawing from school. The Withdrawal Policy can also be found on the Consumer Information page on this website.
If you have questions please contact the Office of Financial Aid at 662-685-4771, Ext. 141.
